


What Is and What Could have Been

by SymphonyWizard



Series: Miscellaneous stuff centered around Chloe and Oliver's son [5]
Category: Smallville, Smallville Season 11 (Comics)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-18 19:23:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10623501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SymphonyWizard/pseuds/SymphonyWizard
Summary: Chloe and Lois take Jonathan out for the weekend, but given recent events, Chloe finds herself reflecting back on her life.Mentions a few chapters from the Sullivan-Queen Diaries





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TeamOlicity123](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeamOlicity123/gifts).



Johnny is many things, but a surfer is not one of them.  I watch as he pitifully tries to balance himself on top of that surfboard.  But then, whether it's a gust of wind or if it's a wave, he falls off and disappears beneath the waves.  I cover my mouth in horror, but then his blonde head pops out of the water and his eyes find me and Lois.  A goofy grin is etched across his teenage face and I allow myself to feel a bit of pride.  It's a smile that everyone tells me looks just like my own.  I also love how he can have fun even when he is awful at something like surfing.

Grabbing the surfboard he rented, I watch him as he comes out of the water and comes to join me and Lois.  He looks good in his purple and black swim-trunks. 

"Most impressive, Little Queen," laughs Lois and Johnny reaches us and drops the surfboard.

"That's Sully-Queen, thank you very much," grumbles Johnny as he sinks down onto his purple towel between Lois and I.  "And I think I did pretty well."

"You'd have an easier time walking a straight line drunk than balancing yourself on that surfboard," teases Lois.  From underneath my sunglasses, I glare at my cousin, but Johnny laughs.

"You're probably right, Aunt Lois," he says, then he grimaces.  "Ugh, I love the beach, but seawater is disgusting."

Lois laughs and passes him a can of soda from the cooler.  Johnny graciously accepts it and taps it a few times before he opens it.  I do that too.  He takes a long sip and sighs contentedly.  

"Ah, that's better," he sighs.  As if his phone knew he came out of the water, his text message ringtone went off and he checks his phone.  A smile spreads across his lips.

"Ooh, Aimee text you?" I ask teasingly.

Johnny looks up at me indignantly and bats his hand at me.  "Nose down, Mother." 

I frown playfully and Johnny laughs, flashing his teeth that he takes such good care of.  His teeth looked so awful when his adult teeth started coming in and I must say, that all that money and time Ollie and I invested in his orthodontia really paid off.  From the spacers, to the lip bumper, and finally his braces, his teeth look perfect now.  When he wore braces, he only had to have them in for six months.  And as far as I know, he always remembers to wear his retainers.  

"Aimee just texted that she's hoping I'm having a good weekend and she misses me," Johnny explains.  "And she's threatening me with bodily harm if I don't send her photos of the three of us here in LA."

Lois and I share a wide-eyed look as we gasp in mock-horror.  

"Chlo, a teenage girl is threatening to hurt my favorite guy in the whole world!" exclaims Lois, wrapping her arms around my son protectively.  Even in her forties, Lois still looks good in a bikini, but Johnny is so used to her less-than-modest swimwear that he never gawks at her.  Nor does he look uncomfortable when she embraces him.  I gaze down at my chaste black one-piece.  I'm barely into my forties and given my healing powers I still look like I am twenty-five and according to Ollie, my body is still nice and shapely as it was twenty years ago, but I'm too self-conscious for two-piece swimsuits.  Part of that could be the fact that I am a mother.

I give Johnny a considerate look.  "I guess you better comply to your girlfriend's wishes, buddy."

Johnny laughs as he shoves a few of his golden bangs out of his face.  He picks up his phone and beckons me to join him and Lois.  I laugh as I scooch over and press myself to my son and cousin.  With our heads pressed together, Johnny holds up his phone and says,

"Smile." 

Lois and I smile as wide as we can as the shutter clicks.  The three of us break away from each other and Johnny sends the photo to his girlfriend.

"I'm really glad you and Aimee are in a good place right now," says Lois, squeezing Johnny's shoulder.  "Quite honestly, though, for awhile I thought she was too good for you."

"Sometimes, I think she is," agrees Johnny.  "She knows I'm a meteor fr--" he sees my warning glance and he clears his throat as he corrects himself--"that I have _meteor powers_ , but what would she think of me if she found out that I have killed before?"  I can literally feel Johnny's worry emanating off of him as he frowns at Lois and I.  I think Lois feels it too.  

I wrap my arm around my son and pull him against me.  "I'm not going to tell you that killing people doesn't eat you up, and I'm not saying that you have to tell Aimee everything that happened last Spring Break, but your father, Aunt Lois, and I are all alive and well because of what you did."

Johnny glances up at me mournfully and he suddenly looks like an eight-year-old again instead of fifteen.  He then rests his head on my shoulder and I feel a wave of love and affection overcome me as I rest my cheek against the top of his head.  I've told him time and again how amazing his meteor power is.  If he wants to, he can make people feel any basic emotion, as well as a few more complicated emotions if he focuses hard enough.  Oftentimes when he's feeling an emotion powerfully enough, without even trying to, his emotions can be felt from five feet away, sometimes even ten or twenty feet away.  Times like those, it's like he is surrounded by an aura and if you get close enough, you feel everything he is feeling.  However, when his emotions are more negative, he tries really hard to suppress them from spreading.  I still feel a pang of regret when I think of the things I did and said when he channeled a certain amount of anger into me.  It took Clark to subdue me.

The love and affection emanating off of Johnny right now must be spreading to Lois because she peels Johnny off of me.  I give her an indignant look, even as she gives Johnny a hug of her own.  However, I do love how close they are.  Since she broke up with Clark for reasons I still don't know, and coming home from Egypt, Lois has been living with us until she finds a new job, she and Johnny have grown very close.  Sometimes, it reminds me of how close Lois and I were when we were younger.  Not that we aren't like sisters nowadays, but given new responsibilities, we have to balance our relationships more carefully.

When they break away from each other, Johnny straightens himself up.  "So um, I'm gonna head over to the snack bar, you two want anything?  And I'm not buying you a mojito, Aunt Lois," he adds.  Lois grumbles and I laugh, but we agree on a large order of chili fries.  After handing him a twenty, even after he said he was willing to use his own money, he rolls his eyes and walks off.  I watch fondly until he disappears in the crowd.  Lois and I share a laugh as several girls gawk at him as he walks past them.  He is a handsome boy and, though we argue about it, Ollie insists that he owes his good looks to me.  Well, like me his face and upper torso are sprinkled with a handful of freckles.

I frown a little bit, but before I can regain my composure, Lois catches it.

"Okay, I can't take this anymore; what's wrong, Chloe?" she asks.  

I stare at her.  Knowing she won't let this slide, I realize I shouldn't answer with "Nothing."  I sigh and take off my sunglasses, squinting at the bright afternoon sun.  "It's just..." I'm not sure how to finish that sentence.

Lois sighs knowingly.  "You're a little jealous of Johnny, aren't you?"

I glance out into the ocean, not able to meet Lois's eye.  "It's just that not only did he kiss his best friend, but he's also  _in a relationship_ with her now."  However, I can't deny how proud of him I am.  Growing up, Jonathan was a little bit of an outsider among other kids in Ollie's social circles and most other kids failed to see him beyond his wealth and who his parents were.  I was so pleased and proud of him when he made friends with Aimee Marek.  This spunky, smart-mouthed, intelligent, and sassy dark-haired girl from Smallville that he met during his eighth grade year and I watched as they became the closest of friends.  It reminded me of my friendship with Clark when we were that age.  Then, Aimee has been growing into this beautiful young woman.  More impressive is how Johnny picked up on his best friend's growing beauty and acknowledged his feelings for her.  He's obviously not a prude.  

"You ever wonder what it would be if things had gone differently at my Spring Formal?" I ask without looking in my cousin's direction.  I waited patiently for Clark to reciprocate my feelings for him and I remember the butterflies in my chest when he asked me to Spring Formal.  I spent hours on my hair and I put a lot of thought into that dress that I still haven't brought myself to getting rid of.  We were so close, but fate was cruel to me and just before our lips met, the loudspeaker sounded and Clark disappeared without warning.  

Lois scooches over to me and wraps an arm around my waist.  "I do, cuz, I really do," she finally replies.  "Of all the people you could have fallen in love with, you chose the one that not only pined for a girl he can't even come within ten feet of anymore, but also the one that wouldn't have noticed your feelings for him if you gave him a box of chocolates for Valentine's Day.  Knowing him, I don't doubt he would have made an effort to be the man you deserved, but can you really look me in the eye and tell me that if the two of you kissed and became an item that you wouldn't have spent too much time worrying that he was going to leave you for Lana Lang at the first opportunity?"

I glance at my cousin.  I hate to admit it, but she does have a point.  I was so insecure in my youth and sometimes I found myself competing with Lana Lang.  I helped Clark with his relationship with her because he was my best friend and more than anything I wanted him to be happy...even if it wasn't going to be with me.  "Point taken."

Lois squeezes me reassuringly.  "Cheer up, Chloe.  You are a respected journalist--even if you aren't working exclusively for the Daily Planet--you are married to an amazing man who loves and respects you; you have a handsome son who is not only a born fighter like you  _and_ Ollie, but also shares your love for journalism and everything weird and unexplained; you and Clark are better friends than you ever could have hoped for; you have an awesome cousin..."

I raise my eyebrows at her.  "You're getting cocky."

Lois shrugs and smiles.  "That's because you know I'm awesome."

"You know I do," I tell her and we laugh.  She is right about one thing though:  Clark and I are very close.  

After everything that happened with Doomsday and me losing Jimmy, I wondered if we would ever be friends like we were again.  It took three years.  First he pushed me aside and treated me as little more than a hired hand, interacting with me as Watchtower and almost never as Chloe, then when we were finally in the stages of repairing our friendship, Ollie was captured and I exchanged myself, falling off the grid and everything and Clark failing to trust me when I came back, then me moving to Star City and then spending a year dealing with Clark emerging as Superman and my pregnancy and everything with Earth-Two and the Monitors...it took us a long time to get back to where we once were.  Now, Clark and I are as close as we ever were.  I daresay even closer than the first few years after high school when he finally found out I knew his secret.  He comes over for dinner at least once a week and at least a few times a month, the two of us have a day to ourselves.  Lois enjoys those days, if Ollie is away on business, because it means she gets to have her godson all to herself. 

Even so, I can't help feeling that Johnny has had it unfairly easy.  He has taken his best friend to both Homecoming and their Spring Formal and they are now a couple.  Given his nervousness about large crowds after a certain amount of time, I was impressed when he told me that he and Aimee shared their dance and kiss in the quiet of the music room.  That's one thing he didn't get from me or Ollie--his beautiful skill at the piano.  He was understandably nervous about starting a relationship with her in case things didn't work out, but I have seen those two.  I have faith that their relationship with continue to build, but I also have faith that if their romantic relationship doesn't work out, they will still be close friends.  His best friend isn't aware of Ollie and I's secret identities, but she is well aware of Johnny's skill as a fighter and of his meteor power.  

I was so relieved when Johnny came home and told Ollie and I that Aimee didn't shy away from him when she found out about his meteor power.  I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.  After all, Aimee grew up in Smallville and they are generally very accepted of the meteor-infected.  However, given Star City's less-than-enthusiastic attitude towards them, Johnny has been making sure he is careful about his powers.  That's one downside to living here and not Metropolis or Smallville.

Aimee and Johnny don't even have other people to worry about in their relationship.  Johnny is really good friends with that hacker girl, Felicity, but I have seen those two and there is no romantic vibe.  And Johnny, as beautiful as Aimee is and telling me that more than a few guys find her attractive, he doesn't have anything to worry about.  Through my own observations, I noticed that Aimee is not a girl to flirt with just any guy.  If anything, she is more than a little cynical about most guys.  In fact, she wouldn't even tell Johnny that she was officially his friend until at least a few months into their relationship...even if they had already started being very close friends very quickly.

Would I have been that way if Lana Lang was never in the picture?  Would Clark and I have spent at least part of high school being romantically involved?  Would I have had the right to call myself his girlfriend...or even his wife...if Lana was never in the way?

"Uh, Mom, Aunt Lois...?"  I break out of my reverie and Lois and I spin around to see Johnny standing over us with a large basket of chili fries and a worried look.

"Is everything okay?" he asks.

I clear my throat.  "Yeah, sweetie, everything's fine," I assure him. 

Johnny raises an eyebrow, but he doesn't press the issue.  Jeez, this boy is so shrewd.  It's so difficult for Ollie and I to lie to him.  He sits down on his towel again and the three of us delve into the chili fries.  The three of us soon start talking about Aimee and Lois and I tease him while he grumbles and does his best to tease us back.  

Life hasn't turned out as my fifteen-year-old self would have liked, but Lois is right.  I have a wonderful job, a wonderful husband, an amazing best friend, and most of all, I have a beautiful son.  Even when I am in the throes of jealousy, reflecting back on my life and wishing things could have turned out differently, at the end of the day, my Johnny puts the proudest, happiest of smiles on my face.  I'm happy that his Spring Formal went well for him.  And I hope that his relationship works out for him.


End file.
